The Ancient Order of Hibernians is urging the appointment of a U.S. Special Envoy to the peace and political process saying it would be an embarrassment if an envoy is not in place “and up to speed” by the 25th Anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.
The Hibernians, in a statement, said that “600 Days and 28 U.S. Special Envoys Later” the Northern Ireland post was still being ignored.
Said the statement: “It has been over 600 days since the post of U.S. Special Envoy to Northern Ireland was occupied.
“Since taking office, President Biden has appointed 28 Special Envoys to other posts, including the creation of four new Special Envoy posts. The Ancient Order of Hibernians respectfully asks why the delay in appointing a Northern Ireland Special Envoy given the concerning developments in Northern Ireland around the impacts of Brexit, a collapsed devolved government, and a proposal to grant an amnesty for British forces from prosecution for unjustifiable and unlawful killings committed during the Northern Ireland Conflict.
“United States Special envoys are appointed to address complex, multilateral issues outside of the typical remit of an ambassador.
“Certainly, the situation of Northern Ireland is a prima facie example of the need for a special envoy; the unique confluence of history, culture, and political forces putting Northern Ireland outside the scope of the ambassadors to the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland and requiring unique and focused attention.
“It is widely acknowledged that the work of the first U.S. Special Envoy, Senator George Mitchell, was pivotal to the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, allowing a generation in Northern Ireland to grow up in peace.
“However, the work started by Senator Mitchell is far from over and faces new challenges. A Brexit which the community of Northern Ireland rejected by 56% and Britain’s threat to unilaterally renounce the Northern Ireland protocol imperils the open border that is crossed daily by 30,000 people from both communities and replace it with checkpoints and division.
“A Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), the only major political group in Northern Ireland to oppose the Good Friday Agreement, has collapsed the devolved parliament by refusing to participate in government. While the British government has publicly admitted their cover-ups of Bloody Sunday, the Ballymurphy massacre, and the murder of Pat Finucane, they have yet to hold anyone accountable.
“Now a bill before parliament seeks to grant an amnesty for those actions and others by Crown forces during the Northern Ireland Conflict, undermining the belief that justice can be obtained by peaceful judicial means.
The United States must appoint a Special Envoy to Northern Ireland now to reinforce the U.S. commitment to peace in Northern Ireland and not squander one of the outstanding achievements of U.S. diplomacy.
“It would be an embarrassment if a U.S. Special Envoy to Northern Ireland was not in place and up to speed by the time of the 25th Anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. A U.S. Special Envoy should be on the ground today meeting with all the leaders of Northern Ireland in the hope that this anniversary can be an opportunity to build on the work begun by Senator Mitchell.
“The United States must not miss this chance for the U.S. to once again play a role in advancing the peace of Northern Ireland.”
Early in the Biden presidency, former congressman Bruce Morrison told the Echo that he would accept the offer of becoming a U.S. envoy if asked.
Pope John Paul II arrives in Dublin for the first ever papal visit to Ireland. His visit coincides with the feast of St. Michael, celebrated on September 29th. Pope John Paul II marched through Phoenix Park on this day, greeting over one million people, the largest gathering of Irish people ever. He made a speech, saying that like St. Patrick he had heard “the voice of the Irish.” The Pope also celebrated the first ever Papal mass on Irish soil.
A new episode of the Friends of Sinn Féin podcast is live! Hear the latest news and analysis from Ciarán Quinn and learn about what’s on the horizon in coming months. Link to listen in first comment.
An essay written in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh prison by hunger striker Bobby Sands, first published in January 1979.
The greatest part of each seemingly eternal day that I face is filled with thought. I have nothing else to help pass the time during the long, never-ending hours. Boredom and loneliness are terrible things, continual and unrelenting. I have but one weapon to overcome them: my own thoughts.
To pass the time and to keep warm I pace the floor. Sometimes I stand gazing out of the cell window at the grey barbed wire or simply just sit upon my dirty damp mattress on the floor in the corner of my dungeon-like tomb. But all the while I’m thinking of something, somebody, or some place. It may be deep, serious thought or daydreaming to escape the reality of my nightmarish situation.
Again, I might be, and often as not I am, worrying, thinking of what is going on around me, or what may lie before me. Each day my comrades and I face a psychological battle for survival. It is a very intense struggle and the enemy is unmerciful.
For someone who is contented, or unconcerned with any worry, living what is termed an everyday life, you may find my psychological circumstances hard to comprehend. For two reasons: firstly, my inability to describe the psychological struggle of myself and of my three hundred and fifty comrades; secondly, it is terribly hard, if not inconceivable, to conjure up in one’s imagination the pain and stress of psychological torture or to know its many forms or to understand its various effects.
Imagine how it would feel to be locked up naked in solitary confinement, twenty-four hours a day, and subjected to total deprivation of not only common, everyday things, but of basic human necessities, such as clothes, fresh air and exercise, the company of other human beings.
In short, imagine being entombed, naked and alone, for a whole day. What would it be like for twenty torturous months?
Now again, with this in mind, try and imagine just what it is like to be in this situation in surroundings that resemble a pigsty, and you are crouched naked upon the floor in a corner, freezing cold, amid the lingering stench of putrefying rubbish, with crawling, wriggling white maggots all around you, fat bloated flies pestering your naked body, the silence is nerve-racking, your mind in turmoil.
You are sitting waiting on the screws coming to your cell to drag you out to be forcibly bathed. You have heard and seen the horrible results of this from many of your comrades at Mass. You know only too well what it means: the skin scrubbed from your body with heavy brushes. The screws have told you that you are next. You wait all day, just thinking. Your mind is wrecked. Maybe they’ve forgotten, you kid yourself; but you know they never forget.
They don’t come. The next day is the same, and the next, and the next. You become more and more depressed. For days your thoughts have been the same, a mass of fear, fearing what lies ahead.
Consider being in that frame of mind every day! Knowing in your mind that you’re to be beaten nearly senseless, forcibly bathed, held down to have your back passage examined or probed. These things are common facts of everyday H Block life.
It is inconceivable to try to imagine what an eighteen-year-old naked lad goes through when a dozen or so screws slaughter him with batons, boots, and punches, while dragging him by the hair along a corridor, or when they squeeze his privates until he collapses, or throw scalding water around his naked body. It is also inconceivable for me to describe, let alone for you to imagine, our state of mind just sitting waiting for this to happen. I can say that this physical and psychological torture in the H Blocks has brought many men to the verge of insanity.
We are in a very, very bad state now. What will we be like at the end of the day, or in the years to come? My mind is scarred deep. It is as equally a worrying thought that we may end up unable to even think at all! With that in “your” mind, I will leave off. Think about it, but just don’t leave it at that.
Scenes from the 2019 NYC Saint Patrick’s Day Parade. GETTY IMAGES
Kevin J. Conway, an Irish American who has roots in Co Leitrim, has unanimously been chosen as the Grand Marshal of the 2023 New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
Conway is the vice chairman of Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, LLC a global private equity firm known for blending investment skills with operating capabilities to build great businesses. He joined CD&R in 1994, served as managing partner from 2004 to 2016, and is currently a member of the Management Committee. Conway has also chaired the Investment Committee since 2001, over which time CD&R has invested more than $20 billion to acquire over 50 companies. He has been active in many of the firm’s organizational initiatives and works closely with the chief executive officer on all aspects of CD&R’s operations.
Prior to joining CD&R, Conway spent ten years with Goldman, Sachs & Co., where he was elected a partner. He was a senior member of the Mergers & Acquisitions Department, advising corporate leaders, boards of directors, families, and public and private companies on a wide variety of transactions. Conway also served as chief of staff of the Goldman Sachs Investment Banking Division and as global head of Investment Banking Recruiting.
In addition to being a Trustee of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Conway serves on several charitable and civic boards, including as vice chair, formerly chair, of the board of directors of Student Sponsor Partners, an organization providing educational opportunities to at-risk inner-city children in New York City. He also serves on the boards of Catholic Health Services of Long Island, a network of six hospitals, three nursing homes, and several community service organizations, and the New York Catholic Foundation, which administers funds for the Archdiocese of New York in pursuit of the religious, charitable, educational, and community services activities of the Archdiocese.
Conway is a magna cum laude graduate of Amherst College, where he was a joint political science and economics major and was awarded the Densmore Berry Collins prize at graduation. Since then Conway has served in many leadership and volunteer roles for Amherst, including as a member of the most recent Presidential Search Committee and the Executive Committee of the Lives of Consequence capital campaign.
Conway holds a joint degree from Columbia University, with an MBA from Columbia Business School and a JD from Columbia Law School, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar.
